Ardens Chorea
by RubyContract
Summary: A brutal empire ruled by cruelty... A world under siege. In this dark world where Elesis Sieghart- infamous assassin and warrior, must fight for her freedom in the game set by the tyrant of Xin, defeat fifteen warriors in various trials. With allies such as the captain of the royal guard- Aren on her side, she must dance and have her flame blaze brightly for the world to see.
1. I: Spitfire

Ardens Chorea

I. Spitfire

* * *

The sound of footsteps on the marble tile was a monotony that made Elesis release a loud-drawn out yawn. Rolling her eyes indolently, she shifted her hands, the chains _clank_ing with the subtle movement. The black-cloaked guard next to her tightened his grip on her arm as warning. Smirking nonchalantly, Elesis let her eyelids droop ever-so-slightly in an arrogant and lazy expression.

"Don't get any ideas," the guard snapped, his voice gruff and his tone curt as they made a right down a spacious hallway with cavernous arched windows that let sunlight stream through in radiant beams of warmth. Elesis snorted, rolling her crimson eyes and craned her neck backwards, smirking at the escort of armed soldiers that trailed behind her, swords at the hip ready to draw in a flash and wickedly sharp and heavy war lances hefted over the shoulder. They strode down corridors, up and down flights of stairs, through the outdoor walkways, over and over the cloaked guard dragged Elesis through the shining building.

Probably a petty trick to disorient and confuse her, make her unsure and uncertain. _Idiots_. All they were really doing was familiarizing her with the building. Deathly pale and bony, her once luxurious scarlet tresses a dull and tangled mess, practically swimming in her oversized dirty-grey tunic that hung from her bones limply, she made a sorry sight. _Stupid_. You never judged on appearances alone, her mind was in nowhere near as sorry of shape as her overall physical appearance.

Eyeing him critically, Elesis eyed the silver-sword adorning his left hip, if she jerked her arm suddenly, she would make him stumble and then she could grab his sword and use it to slit his throat. She diverted her gaze to the escort behind her. Sizeable, a group this large would make her break a sweat but nothing that she couldn't manage, even with the blasted manafreeze bracelets blocking her pyrokinesis she could more than handle this pack of well-dressed thugs. She stared at the cloaked guard, feigning interest in the brocaded silk tapestries that adorned the wall, the fine threads a muted shimmering rainbow of rich colors. She contemplated what it would be like to throw him against the wall and rob him of his weapon, slitting his throat with it before disappearing into the wilderness where she could live under a blanket of stars and sleep on a bed of pine tree limbs. Away from the cruel people who tormented her and sentenced her alongside her younger brother to hell.

A year Elesis had spent so far in the salt mines of Hamel, a hard year of brutality and cruelty, an arduous experience that left her body emaciated and introduced an emotion she hadn't experienced in so long that it was almost forgotten… fear… the gut-wrenching fear of what sick joke Fate would play on her and her younger brother- Elsword, who was still back in Hamel… _May the El Lady bless his soul and keep him alive_. She had vowed to rescue him, but how would she be able to keep such a solemn promise to her only living blood relative? A petulant snort blew Elesis's bangs upwards as she pushed those dark thoughts to the back corners of her mind.

They descended a spiraling staircase, the ivory bannister gleaming and gilded, the designs etched into it by skilled hands, precise and intricate. Feeling bored, the crimsonette studied the hilt of the guard's sword, plain steel wrapped in well-oiled black leather, the cross-guard a glittering gold shaped like outstretched angel wings spreading outwards towards the heavens. Noticing her intent stare, the guard's hand casually dropped down to the hilt of the sword, "Something interest you Miss?"

Elesis snorted and tossed her hair with a flip of her neck. "So what am I even doing here? I highly doubt that Xin decided to drag me out of the mines just for tea. You do know who I am, right?" Her stomach flip-flopped, she was important enough for an execution… but if she was destined for the gallows, why were they showing her around the building? This gleaming fortress was where all the administrators from Xin oversaw the vassal kingdom of Seneca, surely it was a waste of time to show a lowly warrior this, even if she was a notorious assassin and bounty hunter?

The guard _hmp_ed and held his chin up in the air, "That is something you will know when it's your time to know," he gestured with his free hand at the soldiers behind him. "In the meantime, just look and don't try anything stupid unless you feel like having a sword embedded in your gut." The redhead let out a hollow laugh, "Do you know how many threats like that have been made against me?" Her nostrils flared, she could kill this man, easily as the sun could rise. Did he not know what she did to the overseer who pushed too far? Even now, five months later, the feeling of his skull splitting and the crimson gore splattering against her arms as she bashed the sharp end of the pick-axe into his oily, bald head came back to her in lightning flashes of lucid feeling.

"Please," she scoffed, bristling. "Do you take me for an idiot?" Though the guard's face was hidden in the shadows of his cowl, Elesis could see the grimace that was wrought upon his gruff, tanned features. "I take you for what you are, a dangerous criminal who needs to be monitored," he replied brusquely. The crimsonette sighed, rolling her eyes, strategizing for the hundredth time since she entered this building as to how she could take out this whole gaggle of weirdly-masculine harpies and run far away from this place. She had no doubt that she could take them on even if the guard who was escorting did appear a little more skill than most. From his bearing, Elesis estimated that he was a captain at least, and the fleeting glimpse she got of the bottom half of his face informed her that he was not from the kingdom of Xin with their moon-pale skin and the delicate girlishness that was so prominent in all of them, even the men listed towards the feminine side and the young boys could be passed off as girls with ridiculous ease.

"Are you Rurensian or Senecan?" she queried in a sullen tone, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout. She would've folded her arms, if it weren't for these blasted manacles. Oh, how she just wished she could rip them off like those muscular men in the circus. The guard started, his posture turning rigid for a heartbeat before relaxing ever so subtly. "Why are you taking such an interest?" he replied, his tone carrying a wary edge to it. The crimsonette flexed her shoulders offhandedly, "Eh… I just wanted to know why you serve the kingdom of Xin. What have they ever done for Seneca or Rurensia except raze it and oppress the people, destroying entire cultures and annihilating entire settlements?"

A sharp intake of breath was heard from the guard before he let out in a slow sibilant _hiss_. "We will have none of that talk here Miss," he retorted acerbically and clamped his hand even tighter around Elesis's left arm, making the crimsonette wince as her blood circulation was cut off by the iron pressure.

Half-marching, half-dragging Elesis he made his way to a set of heavy rosewood doors, the ruddy wood decorated in dizzying whorls and florid floral patterns. He came to an abrupt halt, spinning the crimsonette so she was staring him dead in the shadows that concealed his face. Despite the obscurity of whatever facial expression he was donning, his stiff and taut posture betrayed his vexation and his warning. "Now before we go in there, you must promise to behave. _Do you understand_?" he scowled in a voice of prickly thorns and stern fatherly warning. Elesis bared her teeth in a smile dripping with poisoned honey before cooing back to him in a nauseatingly saccharine manner:

"Of course Sir, I shall be on my very _best_ behavior, I assure you."

* * *

**RC: Aaand cut! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my Elesis x Aren story Ardens Chorea! I do apologize if this first chapter was a bit… uninspired.**

**Elsword: Not all too surprising since you're basing this off a book you read :P**

**RC: *Chucks chainsaw at Elsword* With several twists to warp it to my glorious vision :D**

**Elesis: O_O Your strange, twisted, and oftentimes bloody vision.**

**RC: :L**

**Aren: … I don't trust a story where it has Elesis and I as anything other than minor characters with love involvement**

**RC: Why not? OwO**

**Aren: Past experiences…**

**Elesis: Getting stuck behind a wall…**

**Aren: Having my younger sister get shot…**

**Elesis: Getting a hand stuck through my stomach by my clone :P**

**Aren: To top all this off, you're writing it…**

**RC: What did I ever do? O3O**

**Everyone else: YOU. GOT. TO. BE. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME.**

**RC: That was a looooong time ago! :,3 Forgive and forget they say!**

**Elsword: Uh huh… suuuure…. **

**RC: *Shrugs* Welp, you can be expecting another update for Gate of Sheol to be coming up soon! Sorry for the minor break I took! Catching up on homework! =w=; Still… Remember to R&R for the poor unadopted baby chainsaws! Ja Nee! *Flies out the window***

**Elsword's final words: This bitch… is unbelievable… *Mutilated by an animate chainsaw***


	2. II: Aerosol

Ardens Chorea:

II- Aerosol

* * *

Stepping into the room was a slap in the face for Elesis, followed by a bucket of ice-cold water at three o'clock in the morning. Marble tile floors gleamed, while the diamond chandeliers dazzled, throwing dancing shards of crystal fire across the room. The air was thick with the aroma of roses and lavender and it made her want to retch so badly. A cruel reminder of how much the nobles of Xin profited from her labor, and the suffering of countless others.

"Now stay here," the captain snarled and shoved her with his free hand, releasing her at long last. The crimsonette stumbled on her calloused and blistered feet, nearly breaking her neck as she straightened herself. She flung a furtive glance over her shoulders to see another eight guards appear.

_So much for that… _Elesis sucked in her cheeks, scowling dourly as she rubbed her manafreeze bracelets, the cold metal chaffing her skin. _Sixteen guards plus the captain, all of them trained to kill with the utterance of a single word_. She eyed the glittering _Endless Knot _stitched on the breast of their snow-white uniform. She looked away, diverting her stare in front of her.

Standing in front of a large window shaped like a lotus flower was a lithe young man with ebon hair and golden eyes, dressed in a white _bhakti _and loose black pants. "Oh," he lifted his head up a little. The Captain bowed deeply, "My lord," he straightened from his low bow, removing his hood. He was a gruff man with light brown hair and tanned skin, appearing to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Elesis heaved a gratuitously noisy sigh and moved her arms, clanking the manacles that were slapped on her wrists. Of course, no one paid her any mind.

"So, Penensio, how did you fare?" the ebon-haired male enquired, clasping his hands together. The crimsonette's eyes widened, _Penensio! But he was one of Seneca's most famous warriors! Only surpassed by Helputt Seiker! He was one of the last fighters when Xin invaded! Even when everyone had broken formation and fled like the scared little girls they truly were, he held on alongside Helputt and continued to fight the attackers! So why would he-?_

Penensio snorted, making a brusque gesture at Elesis, "It went well enough," he replied tersely. Elesis rolled her eyes. "It was real swell, my feet are a little blistered, the people are rude, the _captain_"-Elesis placed a scornful emphasis on the word 'captain'- "is a taciturn prick, and I really want nothing more than to punch you in your pretty little face," she turned towards the ebon-haired male, glowering frigidly at him, "so yeah, it went really well."

Penensio shot daggers at her, his golden brown eyes crackling as icy hostility frosted them over. "Watch your tongue!" he snapped. Elesis smirked, cantering her hips lazily. "Hah! Next thing you know you'll be asking me to bow to that brat!" She jerked her hands towards the ebon-haired male, gesturing an obscenity with her fingers. The Captain deadpanned, slowly shaking his head, "Yes, yes we are," he retorted drily.

The crimsonette huffed, rolling her eyes and fervidly shaking her head. "Fuck that, not going to happen," she snipped, sticking her chin up in the air.

The sound of thunder resonated behind her and someone grabbed her by the neck. Elesis could only glimpse deathly pale skin and a well-built, weather-worn face with white sideburns and a white beard before she was thrown against the icy marble. She struggled violently, pain crashing into her as her head cracked against the hard floor.

"_That _is the proper way to greet the heir to one of the Four Noble Houses of Xin," the alabaster man snarled.

Elesis bared her teeth in a ferocious scowl, twisting her neck to get a good look at the bastard. He was a large man with a muscular build, and several scars running across his face, his electric blue eyes seemingly glowed, alight with contempt and malice.

_Dammit_… Elesis hissed, struggling to rip herself free from his iron grip. _If I could just move a little I could throw him off balance and- _

"I don't see why you would force someone to bow when the movement conveys allegiance and respect. She clearly doesn't respect me and it would be too much to expect her to give allegiance," the ebon-haired male drawled in a tone of glorious boredom after a too-long moment.

_I swear on the El Lady and all things holy that I will kill every single one of you mother fuckers in this room as soon as I can, and if I die… Well! I'll still kill all of you!_

Elesis pivoted her neck attempting to glance at the ebon-haired male, but could only a pair of black leather boots against the marble.

"It is clear that you respect me Duke Scar, but isn't a bit excessive to try and force _Elesis Sieghart _into having the same opinion? If so, we'd have a two-faced liar running around and then the next morning, we'd all wake up with a blade in our necks and our houses burned down," he sighed, "we all know very well that she has no love for the emperor or anyone associated with him and by proxy, she despises the Four Noble Houses." There was a pause and Elesis could swear that his eyes fell upon her for a moment.

"Perhaps your intent was to humiliate her? That is quite juvenile, a childish power struggle really. Such stupidity I could expect from someone like her, yes, but you? Now you're just stooping to her level. Let her enjoy her little power trips, she'll calm down eventually."

Elesis furrowed her brow, clenching her fists tightly until her palms started to bleed. _Can I just please kill both of them already? If I can kill them right now I promise I won't torture them by burning them alive._

"Now, don't you have a meeting with the supervisor? It would be a pity if you missed it, considering you came all this way to meet him in the first place," he continued, his tone more brittle.

Understanding the underlying message, the Duke grunted and released Elesis. The crimsonette just laid there, her feathers ruffled at the encounter. If she ever managed to escape, she should return his warm greeting after catching up with her other "_newfound friends_".

She staggered to her feet, the dirt she had left behind on the otherwise spotless floor marking the spot where she had been slammed into the ground. She smirked upon seeing it, she hoped someone would step in it and ruin their shoes, or preferably, fall in it and trash their silken garments. She tilted her head to the side, releasing a loud yawn as if the incident had never happened.

"Ah, I apologize for the Duke's rudeness, he is a bit…" the ebon-haired male pursed his lips into a thin line.

"He's an asshole," Elesis replied bluntly. He rolled his eyes while the Captain shook his head, liberally massaging his temples.

"I wouldn't put it so bluntly, but perhaps you are right," he took a step closer to Elesis, smiling faintly and holding his hand out. "Anyways, I'm Aren Haan of house _Eun_- the silver fox," he informed politely. Elesis chortled humorlessly, eyeing his outstretched hand. "Nice to know, now you might want to withdraw your hand if you don't want me to break it," she snipped caustically, narrowing her eyes.

Aren took a step backward, bristling. "That was needlessly hostile," he muttered petulantly, crossing his arms. Elesis smirked, but did not reply to his retort.

"I thought I asked you to make sure she was presentable," Aren stated, turning his attention to Penensio. Elesis fumed, _What a jerk! _She looked down at her filthy skin, her miserable tattered rags, and felt a twinge of shame. Oh how far she had fallen! From wealth and beauty to rags and filth! She was beautiful, her eyes a deep blood red, her hair once a luxurious waterfall of crimson, and she once dressed in a tomboyish but still graceful style that had accentuated her graceful curves, and caressed her in the satiny feeling of silk.

To stand before a noble from Xin as little more than a gutter rat was pushing it for the crimsonette. Her face flushed red as the Captain replied blandly: "I didn't want to keep you waiting."

Aren snorted, shaking his head as Penensio reached for her. "We need not bother. Now that she's here we might as well talk." Hearing the lightness in his lilting oriental accent awakened a surge of bitter and turbulent emotions that Elesis was barely able to suppress. How could he be so casual?

_What the hell is wrong with you people? Are all the people from Xin sociopathic?_

"Though you haven't bothered to introduce yourself, it is safe to say you are Elesis Sieghart, no?" Aren turned his attention back to her, tilting his head to the side. Elesis rolled her eyes, sighing loudly. He smirked, placing his hands on his hips. "You seem pretty young, but who am I to judge on appearances?" he shrugged lazily, "I've heard some pretty fascinating tales about you. How was Hamel after living in such excess in Velder?"

Elesis scowled, crinkling her brow. _Fucking. Asshole. _

"It couldn't be any better," she simpered mordantly as her teeth sliced the inside of her left cheek.

"After a year, you seem to be alive. Quite impressive, especially when the average life expectancy in these mines is about a month… if you're lucky."

"Ah, well, contrary to my appearance, I'm not all roses and sugar plums," Elesis replied sardonically, batting her eyelashes as she adjusted her manafreeze bracelets. Aren turned his attention back to Penensio, smirking. "Quite the acidic tongue she has on her, no? Yet her speech is so refined for such vulgar mannerisms."

"I would hope that I don't sound like some drunken whoremonger from the slums of Sander!" the crimsonette snapped acrimoniously. The Captain sighed, smiling ruefully at the ebon-haired male. Elesis pursed her lips into a snide smile, and narrowed her eyes. Aren laughed, waving his hand airily.

"Considering the position you're in, you are awfully brave. You do know that by Xin's laws, you are nothing more than a _slave_, right? Has your sentence taught you nothing?" Aren enquired with false incredulity. The crimsonette shrugged, "All I ever do there is to use a pickaxe, so that's the only thing I learned."

"And you never tried to escape?"

An expression of utmost wickedness crossed Elesis's face, her eyes sparking dangerously. "Once."

Aren lifted his eyebrows, completely surprised. He turned to Penensio, "I wasn't aware of that…" The Captain threw Elesis a black look before replying: "The Head here informed me that there was an incident about the sixth-"

"Seventh," the crimsonette interjected.

"Seventh," Penensio continued, "after Sieghart arrived, she attempted to escape."

Elesis waited anxiously for the Captain to continue with the story, but seeing that he had no more to say, she bared her teeth into a feral grin. "That's not even the best of it!" she chirped.

Aren's face was halfway between a wince and a smile, "Best part?" he queried warily. Penensio glowered darkly at Elesis. "The Emperor made sure that each of Hamel's sentries could shoot a partridge out of a pear tree from two hundred feet away. To even attempt to flee is an inevitable death, in other words," he took a deep breath, "it's suicide."

Aren stared contemplatively at Elesis. "But you're alive," he stated softly. The crimsonette's smirk faded into a grim ghost as the memory struck her, "Yes."

He frowned, "But… don't you have a brother?" Elesis hissed, shooting mental daggers at the ebon-haired male. "Yes I do, so what of it?" she snarled.

"Why?"

Her eyes turned cold as winter steel, "I just snapped."

Penensio let out a short bark of mirthless laughter. "Is that the explanation for what you did?" he demanded, "She killed thirty sentries _without _her signature pyrokinetic abilities and her overseer. She was a _finger tip's length _away from the wall before they managed to subdue her."

Aren winced, "And….?" he pressed.

The crimsonette seethed, "And? Really? Do you know how far the gates are from the mines?" He stared blankly at her. Elesis groaned and flung her arms over her head in a melodramatic gesture, "From my shaft, it was four hundred feet. I had someone measure."

"And…?" Aren repeated. Elesis snorted, turning to Penensio. "Oi', how far do slaves make it when they try to escape?" The captain shifted around disconcertedly before replying: "Four feet if the sentry is inattentive. Not even a foot if the person on guard is trigger happy."

Aren's somber silence was not her desired reaction. "You… knew it was suicide…" he said, so quietly that everyone in the room had to strain to hear him. Elesis frowned, _Maybe I shouldn't of brought up my stunt… _"Yeah, so?"

"They didn't kill you," he stated flatly. Elesis flexed her shoulders nonchalantly, "The _'Emperor' _wanted me alive, I guess. Experience all the horrors that the Salt Mines have to offer," she shivered though the room was a pleasantly warm temperature. "Looking back, I realize that I had never intended to escape."

The pity in his eyes made her want to slap him. That was an expression she did _not _want to see, especially from a noble of the Xin Kingdom. "It couldn't of been anything too pleasant," Aren stated after a terse stretch of heavy silence. Elesis flashed a dark smile at him and held her arms up. A crisscrossed network of scars- some white, others an angry, swollen red- decorated her arms like a morbid tattoo. "And those are the minor ones, the scars I have on the back are far worse," Elesis chuckled inwardly as the ebon-haired male cringed.

"Well… at least dresses can cover them…"

Her eyes snapped open wide, "'Scuse you?"

Aren walked over to them, dangerously close to the crimsonette. Penensio and all the guards stiffened, their hands resting uneasily on the hilt of their swords. _They should… _Elesis thought with a cheerless self-satisfaction. In less than a second she could get her arms over his head and crush his windpipe with the chains. It would be worth it just to see the expression on all their faces. But Aren was seemingly oblivious to the danger, perhaps she should be insulted.

"You're quite temperamental aren't you?" Aren mused lightly, tapping his chin. Standing so close to him, within strangling distance, was testing the crimsonette. Her self-control dancing on a crumbling cliff's ledge.

"I want to know what the fu-"

Penensio jerked her backwards, away from the ebon-haired male. "I wasn't going to kill him you idiot!" Elesis spat, sucking in her cheeks and biting _hard_. Penensio stared dispassionately at her, a vein in his neck throbbing subtly. "I would highly suggest that you shut your mouth before I throw you back in the mines."

Elesis snickered, "I _highly _doubt that you would do that." The Captain tiled his head to the side, "Oh? Why is that?" Aren chuckled, hiding his grin behind his right hand. "I think she might be on to us!" Elesis crinkled her brow, smiling ruefully. "That tears it. There's something you want from me, something that you were willing to travel all this way from Xin to Hamel. I'm not an idiot though I was stupid enough to allow myself to be captured in the first place. You've been testing me, making sure I was still mentally sound and not physically wrecked beyond repair." She clenched her teeth together. "Contrary to what the incident at the gate says, I'm not broken. So, if I'm not destined for the gallows, spit it out… Now."

Penensio and Aren exchanged glances. Aren smirked, brushing his bangs to the side only to have them drift back in his field of view at an indolent pace. "I have a proposition for you."

Her jaw dropped, before she regained her composure, resuming her smug smirk. A proposition from the heir to one of the Noble Houses! Never did she dream this would happen, _It might just be worth the delay in strangling him in order to see what this is. It's at least guaranteed to be good._

"Please do tell me more."

* * *

**RC: Aaand cut! IT HAS BEEN REVIVVED! OAO I'm sorry for the super-long wait… but eh heh… =w=; other stories… life… yup… laziness… you see where I am heading with this, correct?**

**Aisha: I smell something burning…**

**RC: Oh yeah, remember the flamer who was harassing Yumi? **

**Raven: You went and done him in and now he's coming after you?**

**RC: That in a nutshell… your typical racist, misogynistic homophobe with bad grammar. Free reviews are free reviews and adorable tears of pure salt are adorable. **

**Rena: You're taking this pretty calmly…**

**RC: Of course! Why should I get worked up over someone who can only copy and paste barely legible insults that don't contain a single clean word in them when I'm a famous authoress with wonderful friends like Yami and Rosa? I just hope in his war against me, he won't find the brain power to harass Yumi. I'm pretty sure he won't, if he had a brain in him he would've realized that taking me on is like signing your own death warrant. **

**Elsword: *Rubbing old scars* Yeah… you're crazy…**

**RC: I'm just not one to be brought to tears over some druggie's ranting… But anyways, I've been noticing a lack of good horror stories on this archive so after I update GoS: CU and IS: AA and finish with TCBB I'll be starting up a horror story and I'll also be publishing a story in another archive, either Fate/ Stay, Fairy Tail, or Blazblue… but here's my list so far of what I would base the horror story off of…**

_**The Witch's House**_

_**Corpse Party**_

_**Misao**_

_**Mad Father**_

_**The Crooked Man**_

_**Ib**_

_**Saya No Uta**_

**What do you think?**

**Elsword: NONE**

**Elesis: Preferably**

**RC: Too bad…. Lololololol… And here's something for Sugarlatte! I'm sorry if the geography of Elsword came off as confusing in the first chapter**

**Seneca- The Kingdom where Hamel is based in. Hamel is not a kingdom on its own, but it is the Capital/ biggest city in Seneca**

**Rurensia- Alternative spelling of "Lurensia" Rs and Ls tend to get botched in translation from a lot of Asian languages to English so it could go either way. Capital is Velder.**

**Xin- Kingdom where Fahrmann is located, Ara's home kingdom. **

**Ara: That was enlightening… cause I forgot….**

**Aren: .-.**

**RC: But yup… I want to thank my 9 reviewers and to give a cookie for all those who guessed Throne of Glass! You're right! :D Now, as you will notice, the chapters will be named after explosives/ types of fire/ flammable things…. Keeping in time with the whole fire thing I have going on here… Speaking of fire, any flamers will be sent to Elesis after being chainsawed lololol… Remember to R&R! Ja Nee! *Flies out the window***


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